The approaches described in this section could be pursued, but are not necessarily approaches that have been previously conceived or pursued. Therefore, unless otherwise indicated herein, the approaches described in this section are not prior art to the claims in this application and are not admitted to be prior art by inclusion in this section.
The popularity of mobile computing devices has been unprecedented and hundreds of millions now are sold each year. Many individuals own multiple mobile devices. For years, people interacted with their mobile devices using physical keyboards, switches or buttons. However, since touchscreen technology has improved, virtually every mobile device has included a touchscreen, and many mobile devices rely on touchscreens as the primary, or only, form of input.
A touchscreen is an electronic input device that is layered on top of a visual display, and is responsive to touch, such as by a finger or stylus, and capable of transforming a point of touch into a set of digital data representing coordinate values in a coordinate system. Touchscreens have caused a tremendous shift in the way people interact with mobile devices. Many interactions with mobile devices through a touchscreen are intuitive and simple. However, not all interactions are this way. Many applications attempt to recreate the interfaces of desktop computers, with many buttons and pull-down menus that are limiting and not user friendly. In some instances, this is due to a desire to rapidly port applications from desktop computer to mobile devices. In other instances, a better way has not been developed. The problem of non-touch optimized ways of interacting with applications is becoming more apparent as the applications on mobile devices gain greater and greater functionality. Thus, additional solutions are needed to improve machine efficiency and make more interactions using a touchscreen simple and intuitive.